Fake strings----again.

Svartmetall

carlos said:

I'm a fan of D'Addario these days. With the codes in the packaging plus doing whatever stupid quizzes they ask us to do on the website, I've got a few free packs of strings.

After 30 years of using them I still find them to be the best, most consistent, and longest-lasting strings I've ever used. 

ScreamingDave

Unfortunately, we now have a society where everyone expects to get stuff cheap or free.  Hence people streaming movies from dodgy sites then moaning when they get a virus on their laptop.  

Don’t do it , FFS!  There’s no such thing as a free lunch.  If it’s much cheaper than you can reasonably get it elsewhere, pass on it. It’s really simple. 

And if I did get scammed because I was daft enough to think I could get something really cheap, I certainly wouldn’t post on here for all to see and laugh at me!

Musical_Mystery_Tour

ScreamingDave said:

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Yup. I just checked and even the domain name freelunch.co.uk is up for sale at a cost of £4,995.00 :-)

OilCityPickups

guitarjack66 said:

DavidRees said:

time was when a 'packet of three' meant something entirely different ...

They were rarely fit for purpose either.

Musical_Mystery_Tour said:

Rotosound - the string of choice when they are the only ones the shop have and you've got a gig later that day. Only surpassed in crapness by Martin strings.

Have you tried them recently? Rotosound are all I use on my six strings these days. Swapped from D'Addario as basically they went right down the tubes. I wish they did more in the 7 string department or I'd switch to them for my 7 too. 

Musical_Mystery_Tour

They must have changed significantly then, but I guess that's not impossible. I'll give them a shot and see if they float my boat.

OilCityPickups

Musical_Mystery_Tour said:

They must have changed significantly then, but I guess that's not impossible. I'll give them a shot and see if they float my boat.

We have a lot of demo guitars so string changing is really a. important, and b. regular. Like you, I has Rotosound guitar strings down as the string of desperation, but we have a Rotosound account, so I thought I'd give em a whirl. I equipped our entire fleet of guitar show guitars with Rotosound 10s prior to the 2020 Birmingham Show that we sneaked in before the Pandemic. I played the bollocks out of those guitars during the Pandemic period and they were right up there with the couple of personal DAddario equipped guitars. I have that original batch on a couple of the least used guitars and they ain't dead yet. I eventually knackered the sets on my most used Les Paul and the Oil City/Feline interchangeable pickup 'tester' guitar, but I didn't break one ... and I am a convicted string breaker! 
All I can say is give em a go ... I was more than pleasantly surprised.  

Svartmetall

OilCityPickups said: Have you tried them recently? 

Not for many years, as I had such bad experiences with them in the '90s and have never found anything wanting in D'Addarios. Have Roto upped their game, then? I mean, it would be nice to be able to support a British string manufacturer...

blobb

I bought a job lot of different strings for different prices a few years ago. Roto were the only ones that felt any different to the generic style of all the others, more aggressive, more attack, more sustain. So they won my shoot out. Ibanez own brand came second for what it's worth.

Voxman

ScreamingDave said:

Unfortunately, we now have a society where everyone expects to get stuff cheap or free.  Hence people streaming movies from dodgy sites then moaning when they get a virus on their laptop.  

Don’t do it , FFS!  There’s no such thing as a free lunch.  If it’s much cheaper than you can reasonably get it elsewhere, pass on it. It’s really simple. 

And if I did get scammed because I was daft enough to think I could get something really cheap, I certainly wouldn’t post on here for all to see and laugh at me!

Where else would you post to get laughed at? The Fretboard is THE place... If you're gonna get laughed it, do it in style and get laughed at by your friends! 

Voxman

This string fakery is seriously out of hand, and string manufacturers need to get their act together and take some ownership and responsibility ... they need to help protect customers and make life harder for counerfeiters. D'addario are already doing this and other big names like Ernie Ball and Rotosound need to follow suit with unique pack codes.  Until they do, I'm sticking with D'addario. 

OilCityPickups

Svartmetall said:

OilCityPickups said: Have you tried them recently? 

Not for many years, as I had such bad experiences with them in the '90s and have never found anything wanting in D'Addarios. Have Roto upped their game, then? I mean, it would be nice to be able to support a British string manufacturer...

I can only speak as I find and don't have a dog in the fight  ... I don't have a music shop any more, I sell pickups not strings, so I use what does the job best for me.  

blobb said:

I bought a job lot of different strings for different prices a few years ago. Roto were the only ones that felt any different to the generic style of all the others, more aggressive, more attack, more sustain. So they won my shoot out. Ibanez own brand came second for what it's worth.

Yep they are really quite aggressive and 'present' with a lot of sustain, as you found ... very 'metal' if I'm honest. Not 'apologetic strings'.  Nice with a clean Tele mind ... 

Dave_Mc

Funnily enough I've always liked Rotosounds and never really been that keen on D'Addarios for some reason! (I quite like the D'Addario bass strings, though.)

TTBZ

I always think I'll give Rotos a try again when I see how cheap they are compared to other brands, but I always regret it. They go dead so quickly and feel horrible to me. D'addario are the only brand that last for me with good tone, sustain and feel.

Voxman

The only strings that sound a bit different to my ears are GHS Boomers that have a nice bright twang to them and sound great with a Strat or Tele. 

ICBM

Dave_Mc said:

Funnily enough I've always liked Rotosounds and never really been that keen on D'Addarios for some reason! (I quite like the D'Addario bass strings, though.)

Ha - I'm the exact opposite . I don't actually mind Rotosound guitar strings, but I find them a bit rough feeling - likewise, the more expensive, definitive Swing Bass which feel like playing a set of round files... but I like the flatwound Jazz Bass a lot, and oddly, I much prefer the cheaper Roto Bass to the Swing, both for feel and sound - in fact, probably my second favourite after Newtone.

RandallFlagg

I just bought a guitar from a well known fruit named guitar shop and they didn't even throw in a set of fake Ernie Ball strings with it. Bloody rip off.

Offset

euan said:

I once got a helmet from Wiggle that was clearly not just worn but worn and involved in some of impact. 

Guessing they purchased that same helmet again and then returned the damaged one in the new packaging. 

I presume we're talking head protection here...

skunkwerx

I did get a free pack of rotosounds with something once. 

Can't remember how or what, but I do remember they went on, felt grubby, like they were made of rubber, and came off immediately. Lol

mrkb

RandallFlagg said:

I just bought a guitar from a well known fruit named guitar shop and they didn't even throw in a set of fake Ernie Ball strings with it. Bloody rip off.

Cucumber Music were never the most generous of stores

Dave_Mc

ICBM said:

Dave_Mc said:

Funnily enough I've always liked Rotosounds and never really been that keen on D'Addarios for some reason! (I quite like the D'Addario bass strings, though.)

Ha - I'm the exact opposite . I don't actually mind Rotosound guitar strings, but I find them a bit rough feeling - likewise, the more expensive, definitive Swing Bass which feel like playing a set of round files... but I like the flatwound Jazz Bass a lot, and oddly, I much prefer the cheaper Roto Bass to the Swing, both for feel and sound - in fact, probably my second favourite after Newtone.

LOL I quite like the swing bass ones (that's the non-stainless ones you mean, right?) but they are a bit rough-feeling. I've never got as far as trying the pink ones, I think Rotosound told me they were the same apart from the silk? But they're probably worth a try if they're not, since they're usually reasonably-priced.

(I probably shouldn't admit this, but I haven't got as far as trying flatwounds yet!)

Haven't tried the Newtone Bass strings, I probably should since the Lucidity guitar set is just brilliant.

I always feel like D'Addarios feel a bit "tight" for any given gauge. That might well be my imagination though! I prefer things to feel slinkier, lol.